Joseph Kerman
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Joseph Kerman is emeritus professor of music at the University of California, Berkeley. He began writing music criticism for The Hudson Review in the 1950s, and is a longtime contributor to The New York Review of Books and many other journals. His books include Opera as Drama (1956; new and revised edition 1988), The Beethoven Quartets (1967), Contemplating Music (1986), Concerto Conversations (1999), and The Art of Fugue (2005).
From the Review
May 15, 2008: Playing in Time
A Concise History of Western Music by Paul Griffiths
January 12, 2006: Mozart's Magic Marriage
October 20, 2005: The Voice of Masters
Choral Masterworks: A Listener's Guide by Michael Steinberg
April 28, 2005: Mystery Man
The Life of Bach by Peter Williams
September 23, 2004: On Carlos Kleiber (1930–2004)
June 24, 2004: That Old Labyrinth Song
The Maze and the Warrior: Symbols in Architecture, Theology, and Music by Craig Wright
February 27, 2003: Beethoven the Unruly
Beethoven: The Music and the Life by Lewis Lockwood
June 13, 2002: The Full Monte
Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria conducted by William Christie, directed by Adrian Noble
L'incoronazione di Poppea conducted by Christophe Rousset, directed by Pierre Audi
Orfeo conducted by Jane Glover, directed by Diane Paulus
August 9, 2001: Bayreuth Blues
The Wagners: The Dramas of a Musical Dynasty by Nike Wagner, translated from the German by Ewald Osers and Michael Downes
March 23, 2000: The Miracle Worker
Mozart by Peter Gay
The Life of Mozart by John Rosselli
Mozart in Revolt: Strategies of Resistance, Mischief and Deception by David Schroeder
Mozart: A Cultural Biography by Robert W. Gutman
June 24, 1999: Beethoven and the Big Change
Beethoven's Concertos: History, Style, Performance by Leon Plantinga
Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2, Piano Concertos Nos. 3 & 4, Piano Concerto No. 5 "Emperor," and Choral Fantasy Choir fortepiano Robert Levin. the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, and the Monteverdi, directed by John Eliot Gardiner
April 24, 1997: Two Cheers for Rach 3
October 3, 1996: The Beethoven Takeover
Beethoven Hero by Scott Burnham
July 13, 1995: The Big Sound
The Romantic Generation by Charles Rosen
October 6, 1994: Bach's Greatest Hit
Bachanalia: The Essential Listener's Guide to Bach's 'Well-Tempered Clavier' by Eric Lewin Altschuler
May 18, 1989: Mozart à la Mode
Mozart, Piano Concertos No. 20 in D minor, K. 466, and No. 21 in C, K. 467 conducted by John Eliot Gardiner with Malcolm Bilson, fortepiano, and English Baroque Soloists,
Mozart, Piano Concertos No. 22 in E flat, K. 482, and No. 23 in A, K. 488 conducted by John Eliot Gardiner with Malcolm Bilson, fortepiano, and English Baroque Soloists,
Mozart, Piano Concertos No. 25 in C, K. 503, and No. 26 in D, K. 537 conducted by John Eliot Gardiner with Malcolm Bilson, fortepiano, and English Baroque Soloists,
Mozart and Schnabel, Vol. II, Piano Concerto No. 20 with the Philharmonia Orchestra, conducted by Walter Susskind
Mozart and Schnabel, Vol. II, Piano Concerto No. 21 with the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sir Malcolm Sargent
Mozart and Schnabel, Vol. II, Sonata No. 12 in F, K. 332 with the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sir Malcolm Sargent
Mozart, Piano Concerto No. 26 in D, K. 537, and Rondos, K. 382 and 386 with Murray Perahia, piano and, the English Chamber Orchestra.
Mozart, Piano Concertos No. 23 in A, K. 488, and No. 27 in B flat, K. 595 with Vladimir Ashkenazy, piano and, the Philharmonia Orchestra.
August 18, 1988: The Residue of Genius
1791: Mozart's Last Year by H.C. Robbins Landon
Mozart: Studies of the Autograph Scores by Alan Tyson
August 15, 1985: Wagner Goes West
Der Ring des Nibelungen by Richard Wagner. produced by the San Francisco Opera, June 1985
Die Walküre, Siegfried, Götterdämmerung by Nicholas John
December 22, 1983: Wagner and Wagnerism
Richard Wagner: His Life, His Work, His Century by Martin Gregor-Dellin, translated by J. Maxwell Brownjohn
The New Grove Wagner by John Deathridge, by Carl Dahlhaus
The Fertilizing Seed: Wagner's Concept of the Poetic Intent by Frank W. Glass
Wagner's Siegfried: Its Drama, History, and Music by Patrick McCreless
I Saw the World End: A Study of Wagner's Ring by Deryck Cooke
Wagner and Aeschylus: The Ring and the Oresteia by Michael Ewans
Kingdom on the Rhine: History, Myth and Legend in Wagner's Ring by Nancy Benvenga
Staging Wagnerian Drama by Adolphe Appia, translated with an introduction by Peter Loeffler
My Life by Richard Wagner, translated by Andrew Gray, edited by Mary Whittall
Wagner Rehearsing the 'Ring': An Eye-Witness Account of the Stage Rehearsals of the First Bayreuth Festival by Heinrich Porges, translated by Robert L. Jacobs
In Search of Wagner [Versuch über Wagner] by Theodor Adorno, translated by Rodney Livingstone
Tétralogies—Wagner, Boulez, Chéreau: Essai sur l'infidélité by Jean-Jacques Nattiez
Dichtungen und Schriften: Jubiläumsausgabe in Zehn Bänden by Richard Wagner, edited by Dieter Borchmeyer
The Opera Quarterly, Commemorative Wagner Issue, volume 1, no. 3 (Autumn 1983)
Three Wagner Essays by Richard Wagner, translated by Robert L. Jacobs
March 4, 1982: Verdi's Hit Parade
The Operas of Verdi, Vol. 3: From Don Carlos to Falstaff by Julian Budden
October 8, 1981: A Bachward Glance
Bach and the Dance of God by Wilfrid Mellers
April 2, 1981: Vissi d'arte
Maria Callas: The Woman Behind the Legend by Arianna Stassinopoulos
Callas: Les Images d'une Voix by Sergio Segalini
Diva: The Life and Death of Maria Callas by Steven Linakis
Maria Callas: A Tribute by Pierre-Jean Rémy, translated by Catherine Atthill
The Callas Legacy by John Ardoin
October 23, 1980: Theme and Variations
Sonata Forms by Charles Rosen
May 17, 1979: William Byrd and the Catholics
April 20, 1978: Words & Music (letter)
February 9, 1978: Reading Opera
Romantic Opera and Literary Form by Peter Conrad
Literature as Opera by Gary Schmidgall
Mozart and Beethoven: The Concept of Love in Their Operas by Irving Singer
August 4, 1977: Follow the Lieder
Schubert's Songs: A Biographical Study by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, translated by Kenneth S. Whitton
The Fischer-Dieskau Book of Lieder translated by George Bird, translated by Richard Stokes
From New York Review Books
 | Opera and the Morbidity of Music Joseph Kerman examines the ongoing vitality of the classical music tradition, and argues that the recent upsurge of interest in opera is proof of an extremely invigorating and healthy art form. |
Books by Joseph Kerman
Concerto Conversations (1999)
Write All These Down: Essays on Music (1994)
Opera As Drama (1988)
Musicology (1985)
Contemplating Music: Challenges to Musicology (1985)
The New Grove Beethoven (1983)
The Masses and Motets of William Byrd (1981)
The Beethoven Quartets (1979)
Listen (1976)